Harvey Defeats Reigning World Champion; Jones Takes International Debut
by Brian Taylor, USA Boxing
Team USA continued their impressive 2021 World Championships run, taking two more victories today at the Stark Arena in Belgrade, Serbia.
The day began with a highly anticipated matchup between the up-and-coming American, Jahmal Harvey (Oxon Hill, Md.), and Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov, 2019 World Champion and 2020 Olympian, of Uzbekistan.
Right from the beginning of the bout, the two boxers were going toe-to-toe against each other, however, at the end of the first round, Harvey had the upper hand, taking three of the five judges’ cards. The second round continued to be another close bout, which resulted in Mirzakhalilov winning the round by a score of 3-2.
With the fight on the line, Harvey did not back down to the reigning champion, landing quality blows and controlling the round to take all five judges’ cards to take the victory with a 3-2 decision and advanced to a round of 16 matchup against Brazil’s Luiz Do Nascimento Chalot on Nov. 1. Harvey and Charlot boxed each other in the 2019 Emil Jechev Youth Memorial Tournament, where the American took the unanimous decision victory.
Scheduled to make his debut earlier in the week, however, a walkover delayed Omari Jones (Orlando, Fla.) first bout to this evening’s session against Scotland’s Tyler Jolly. The welterweight had to come from behind after Jolly was awarded the first round, 3-2.
Jones settled into the fight during the second and third round, taking all five judges’ cards in both rounds, giving the American the unanimous decision victory to advance to the round of 16. Jones will return to the ring on Nov. 1 against Martin Skogheim of Norway.
Team USA will look to continue their winning ways tomorrow, as Obed Bartee-El (Harvest, Ala.) and Jamar Talley (Westfield, N.J.) take to the ring. Bartee-El will box for the second time of these championships following his unanimous decision victory on Wednesday against Bahamas, while Talley will be making his World Championships debut. For a look at day five’s bout sheets, as well as to watch the bouts, click here.
Day 4 Results
57 kg: Jahmal Harvey, Oxon Hill, Md./USA, dec. over Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov/UZB, 3-2
67 kg: Omari Jones, Orlando, Fla./USA, dec. over Tyler Jolly/SCO, 5-0
Day 5 Schedule
71 kg: Obed Bartee-El, Harvest, Ala./USA, vs. Francesco Faraoni/ITA
92 kg: Jamar Talley, , N.J./USA, vs. Parviz Karimov/TJK